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nowadays identifies itself clearly as a political movement -and as a liberation
movement, and I G A is the international realization of both key concepts,

Apart from movements which have consolidated themselves nationally and which have
energy to spare and which practise international solidarity through I G A; the
greater part of I G A members come from countries in which factual oppression and
downright prosecution is rife and rarpan'. Consequently this is reflected in the
great number of actions I G A has called its members to undertake.

Th.- forms of these actions have been diverse, over the last three years ue have
been picketing: c.,~mt.-_ies and consulates, we have written letters to governments,
parliaments, 'ocal authorities and international bodies, petitions have been draft-
ed and circulated, individual protests have been raised and heard as far away as
Moscow and Teheran.

Just what has I G A been tr;kir- action upon? To try and give an overall impression
whii+h uo'-blinly is not exhaustive, I'll men-io dn some of those actions. ITe have -
undertaken actions against efforts to close down gay newspapers, such-as the nmnthly.
Lampiao, Brazil, the fortnightly Gay News, rE.illaud, the monthly Amphi, Greece, and
e mronithl;,- Body Politic, Canada. We have cm..Tip.in.i against the anti-gay laws
in the Irish r>:-1.lic, in Ulster, in Greece, in Spain, in Hong Kong, in Cyprus, in
the Soviet Union,, to name only a few. We have protested discrimination in ages
of consent in France, Enlland and elwhere. We have .:tr...-.ly objected to the regi-
stration of homosexual people by the police in many countries. We have protested]
the tAnita Bryanti ard John Bri-ggs-led witch-hunt against gay women and men, in the
United *f't:es of America, plus the anti-gay immigration laws of that country..
We have protested the murder of homosexual men in Iran. We have spoken out against
the criminalization of homosexual men and women in Cuba. We have been and are
active towar i Amnesty Inteonational, the World Health -rganization, the United
Nations, the Council of P.ir~- and other international bodies. We have condemned
discr:.'. ir.L. 6f '- women and men in their- job-situa{ions, especially the discrim-'
ination of gay teachers. We have approei-hed political parties and trade-unions on
Gay Rights. Lately we have protested police' brutality against gay saunas in
Toronto, Canada, and the Conspiracy to Corrupt Publfic Morals Law in England. And
each year we have pleaded for an International ~ay Liberation Day (which term I
prefer to Gay Pride Day for "obvious reasons) on the' last Saturday in June. As I
said earlier, this is not an exhaustive list of I G A activities, but even as an
incomlete. list it suggests the broad scope of our international movement.

As to its effectiveness, sometimes it has been clear that international protests
have been taken into account by the ..:...:s'r that be, sometimes this has not been
clear. But always gay activists in besieged positions have been strengthened by',
the knowledgei of international solidarity. It strengthens our morale also to
know that we .are part of. tli! :, .t. international gay community, which is growing daily,
in numbers and in rtr--n-th.

We are, alas, still beine.murdered in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic countries,
jailed in many countries., thro:,n out of our jobs, have our children taken away,
hounded by the police, but........ the Gay movement is growing and if pressed' too
hard we take to the -: t::s to show our unity and strength, as happened lately in
Paris, France (10 000 people), in '.nr.-i. ster, Eng,,land (600 people), and in Toronto,
Canada (5 000 people).,- to restrict myself to the months of February and April.

In South America we see the growth of a Gay movement, in Asia a budding movement

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has come into being, and for Eastern Europe we have hopes that a Gay movement makes
itself known in the near future.

From Holland we have an official observer from the Communist Party of the Netherlands
attending this conference, an important sign of changing attitudes in Communist par-
ties, like those of Spain, Finland, Mexico, Australia. Those changes have taken long
to occur, but they give us hope.

Also in Holland the pending recognition of the gay trade union caucus within the
General Teachers' Union, which gay caucus will be the first officially recognized
gay union group, gives us hope. So the Gay movement everywhere gathers momentum
and is moving forward. We are many and only calamities can make us halt.

Let us together see to it that calamities do not occur. '", I G A, the International
Association of Gay Women and Men, be instrumental to further a future in which gay
women and men will have all that I G A strives for at this moment in time, and has
stood for in the past three years.

I.G.A. INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GAY WOMEN Ai'D i 1T

List of member organizations which have paid their membershipfees
for 1980/1981: (situation Easter 1981):